@arstechnica A contrarian opinion: Perhaps an attack on US critical infra *during relative peacetime* would finally force the authorities to fix that apparent dystopian security mess?

If an all-out cyber attack on US critical infra was to take place only hours or minutes before actual war requiring all hands on deck broke out the US 'homeland' would be properly fucked.

The EU and friendly democracies should also take note. Those emergency light flashes come from the rearview mirror of our rules-based international order.

@eff @newyorktimes Opportunity missed? #Palantir and #PeterThiel are at the very heart of the #NetworkState project (also see #Project2025) intent on ending liberal democracy and indeed USA as a republic.

It also strikes me as insane to have Palantir involved in #EuropeanDefence projects. In fact most of the new military startups in the USA are intimately linked to the fascist-leaning #techbros...

@thejapantimes Designing and building a small number of expensive snowflakes (like #GCAP and #FCAS) was never a recipe for great success.

Now the MAGA regime means the USA can't be trusted while the #CCP China has 5th gen designs and the industrial base and intent to outmanufacture all democracies. And when "the time is right" they will sell their advanced military gear to their despot allies, including putin.

Perhaps democracies should consider rationalizing their plans and settle for a unified airframe design that can be mass-produced and equipped with mass-produced electronics and armament. The time isn't ideal for profiteering and IP masturbation.

I've previously suggested using the *existing* Korean #KF21 as a starting platform because we might not have *years* let alone decades to start building actual deterrence...

@EUCommission A good way of boosting security is not empowering hostile regimes through trade and technology transfer in the first place.

Imagine if all developed democracies had decided to support developing *democracies* through aid and mutually beneficial trade since say 1990 onwards. We'd now have a large community of democracies instead of the revanchist imperial dictatorships like Russia and China which we built up in their place. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@noelreports When Turkey was admitted to NATO in 1952 (I had to look it up) , a union of democracies designed to fend off expansionist Soviet dictatorship, it was not an islamist authoritarian state.

Any new European security structure must not repeat the mistakes of #NATO or the #EuropeanUnion where member states can turn into de facto enemy agents within.

It pains me to say that because I know some half of the Turkish people are modern, liberal, democratic and reasonably secular people I would gladly be affiliated with.

@noelreports #FreeTheMeteors
#Ukraine #EuropeanDefence #SkyShield

@EugeneMcParland This has its positives, but all the same I'd really like to see an "EU defence chief" managing all acquisitions for member states (plus+) while starting to require increased *standardization* across different national efforts.

"It's wartime for Europe, and muscovy..." (™ Mel Brooks, 1967)

Take air defence missiles: EU agrees to buy 30k APKWS type 70mm missiles + xxx launchers. Winning bidder agrees to transfer licensing rights for the design to the EU. (A dozen) firms selected by the EU can start churning out produce based on this standard while the OEM receives a *modest* licensing fee...

(ref. In early 1940s a dozen US car factories were churning out B-17 Flying Fortresses by the *thousands*...)

...and I was just watching the Fallout series last night
-----
Following #Britain’s withdrawal from the #EuropeanUnion, #France is the only member of the bloc to possess its own nuclear weapons.

#Russia’s invasion of #Ukraine and the possible return of the isolationist #DonaldTrump as US president has given new life to calls for greater #EuropeanDefence autonomy. #EU

#Macron ready to 'open debate' on nuclear European defence
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240427-macron-ready-to-open-debate-on-nuclear-european-defence